I have been a motorsport and car enthusiast for as long as I can remember. As a child, I would spend hours drawing cars, rally cars and race cars. I wanted to be a car designer. But in the 1980s, opportunities were rare, and one moment that stayed with me was when a teacher told me outright that I could never do that.
From Design to Dogtooth
Instead of car design, I turned my creativity toward graphic design. By 2003, I had started working under the name Dogtooth, first as a freelancer and then, by 2006, as a limited company. In those years, I moved into branding and graphics, with a natural extension into vehicle wraps. Working on liveries and race cars became my way of reaching for that childhood dream. It was car design of a kind, not engineering, but using design and creativity to shape what people saw on the surface.
Over time I came to realise that vehicle wraps and motorsport branding were not the most sustainable business from my base in North Yorkshire, at least financially. Even so, my interest in cars, motorsport and visual identity never left me.
Art and Motorsport
More recently I have been developing my work as an artist. That path brought me into contact with the rally (road trip) scene, including Gumball 3000. One project in particular became a turning point: a detailed illustration in my style on the surface of a Stormtrooper helmet for their charity auction. That project made me see a real opportunity to pursue art alongside my design.
With my art, I also connected with Renata Fernandes at Escapade, Silverstone. An idea was floated about producing a Silverstone themed piece of wall art, and out of sheer enthusiasm, I created a large (4.2m) artwork of Silverstone before any commission had been confirmed. The commission itself did not go forward, but I used the ides in the piece to create a Silverstone-themed Stormtrooper helmet.
Silverstone and F1 Legends
The helmet tells a story of Silverstone’s motorsport history. It features scenes such as Nigel Mansell giving Ayrton Senna a lift, alongside portraits of British F1 heroes like Jim Clark, Damon Hill, Graham Hill and David Coulthard. Beyond Formula One, it also nods to figures such as Barry Sheene and the Jaguar XJR-9 from the Silk Cut era. Motorsport history, told through illustration on the unlikely canvas of a Stormtrooper helmet. There are no links between Star Wars and Silverstone that I know of, but the helmet in this case is the container not the message.
In 2025, I had the chance to showcase this piece at the British Grand Prix. It was placed in the helipad area near the entrance, where celebrities and guests passed through on their way to the circuit. To have my work shown in that context, at Silverstone during Formula One’s showcase event, felt like a culmination of the creative path I have been following since childhood: cars, motorsport, design and art all converging.
One major 'tick' on the bucket-list of my career.